This publish may comprise affiliate hyperlinks. Should you occur to make a purchase order order by hyperlinks on our web site, we may earn a payment.
Kale is a go-to ingredient for smoothies, soups, stews, and dishes like kale pesto. This super-food is straightforward to develop and will even change spinach in numerous recipes. In case you have got an overabundance of kale out of your yard or the grocery retailer, you would possibly want to study to freeze kale so that you presumably can get pleasure from it for months to come back again. Listed below are step-by-step instructions for freezing this delicious inexperienced.
Homegrown kale harvests
Let’s take a fast – nonetheless essential – detour sooner than we talk about the way in which to freeze kale. Should you occur to’ve grown this leafy veggie that’s extreme in Vitamin C and calcium in your own home yard, the first step in accurately preparing the leaves for freezing is realizing when to make the harvest. (Should you occur to don’t develop your particular person however, proper right here’s an incredible article on the way in which to get started rising kale.) You could skip the next paragraph in case your kale bought right here from the grocery retailer, farmer’s market, or CSA subject.
Whether or not or not you’re rising lacinato kale (additionally known as dinosaur kale), curly kale, or Russian kale in your yard, the optimum time for harvesting may be very very first thing inside the morning. In the mean time, the leaves are filled with moisture. Their extreme moisture content material materials means a crispier texture and better freezing. Snap or reduce the leaves off the crops, leaving the rising degree intact so the crops can proceed to develop new leaves. Should you occur to can’t start the freezing course of until later inside the day, put the reduce ends of the harvested stems in a glass of water and put them inside the fridge until you’re in a position to get started.
A step-by-step data on the way in which to freeze kale
Now to the pleasant half! Happily, kale freezes beautifully and retains its style and dietary content material materials even after it’s frozen, due to a means usually often known as blanching. Blanching is the strategy of dunking the kale into boiling water for two minutes, adopted shortly thereafter by an ice water bathtub. Let me make clear the entire steps involved in finding out the way in which to freeze kale to set you up for success.
Step 1: Put collectively kale for freezing
First, you’ll want to get your kale leaves ready for the freezing course of. Given that stem and midrib (or foremost leaf vein) of kale are generally thick and tough, you’ll start by eradicating them. Proper right here’s how.
One of the simplest ways to remove the midrib
Eradicating the stems and midribs of kale leaves is a obligatory step in processing them for freezing. Should you occur to’re working with little one kale, it’s not important to remove the midrib. Nonetheless for mature leaves, you’ll want to full this step.
Seize the underside of the stem in your non-dominant hand. Then use the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger of your dominant hand to strip the leaf blades off of the midrib by pulling your arms except for each other in reverse directions. The succulent leaves for the time being are separated from the strong stems and midrib. It solely takes just a few second to strip a kale leaf from its stem using this method.
Chopping the kale for freezing
After eradicating the midrib, it’s time to chop the kale. I make the most of a giant Santoku knife to coarsely chop the leaves into bite-sized gadgets. I generally try this step sooner than washing the kale because of as quickly as they’re reduce into smaller gadgets, you presumably can match rather more kale leaves into the sink for laundry. Complete leaves take up rather more room.
Washing kale for freezing
Subsequent, it’s time to remove any filth, grit, or completely different particles from the leaves. You could place them in a strainer and wash them beneath chilly, working water, nonetheless I uncover it’s less complicated to plunge the reduce leaves proper right into a sink or large stock pot filled with chilly water. Slosh them spherical a bit using your arms then permit them to sit down for a few minutes. The entire filth will settle to the underside of the sink or pot. Elevate the clear leaves out of the pot and dump out or drain the dirty water. Now it’s time to blanch the kale leaves.
Step 2: One of the simplest ways to freeze kale by blanching
Primarily probably the most important step in finding out the way in which to freeze kale is blanching. With out it, frozen kale would not retain its shiny inexperienced shade. It turns black and mushy inside the freezer. The quick cooking course of in boiling water locks inside the style and renders it almost as nutritionally dense as latest kale.
Preparing the blanching water
To blanch kale, convey a giant pot of water to a boil. As quickly because it’s reached a full boil, plunge handfuls of the reduce kale into the boiling water, conserving the heat turned on extreme.
How prolonged to blanch kale for sooner than freezing
Boil the kale for lower than two minutes. No further and no a lot much less. Then use tongs or a ladle strainer (my machine of choice) to remove the kale from the brand new water. From there, it immediately goes into the ice-cold water of an ice bathtub.
One of the simplest ways to rearrange an ice water bathtub for freezing kale
Sooner than you set the kale into the pot of boiling water for blanching, have your Ice water prepared in a giant bowl and sitting on the ready, correct subsequent to the pot of blanching water. This bowl of ice water is a vital part of the strategy, and in addition you don’t want to be scrambling spherical to get it ready when that two-minute timer is ticking away. The ice water bathtub stops the cooking course of immediately and cools the kale instantly, conserving style, texture, and shade locked in.
I blanch numerous batches of kale within the equivalent pot of boiling water, nonetheless I’ve to change the ice water with every pot because of the ice melts shortly. Have loads of ice on-hand so that you presumably can restock your ice bowl when needed.
Step 3: Draining and packing the kale
It solely takes a minute or two for the blanched kale to relax inside the ice bathtub. As quickly because it’s chilly, you’ll need to cast off the excess water.
Squeeze out the water and lay out to dry
Take away the kale from the ice bathtub using your ladle strainer, tongs, and even your arms. Squeeze as so much water out of the kale as attainable. From there, the leaves can go proper right into a salad spinnerotherwise you presumably can unfold the blanched kale out on clear kitchen towels to absorb rather more moisture. You may too pat it dry with a paper towel. It doesn’t should be utterly dry sooner than freezing, nonetheless do try and cast off as so much moisture as attainable.
One of the simplest ways to freeze kale on sheet pans
There are 3 methods to freeze kale. Should you occur to plan to utilize just a few handfuls of kale at a time and in addition you’ll probably be consuming your frozen kale inside a month or two, go for the baking sheet approach. It’s a good method to flash freeze kale.
Unfold the blanched kale out on a sheet pan in a single layer. Put the pan inside the freezer in a single day. As quickly because it’s frozen sturdy, break the kale apart alongside together with your arms and immediately put the chunks of frozen kale into freezer baggage. This course of retains it from freezing proper into a powerful chunk that it is a should to make use of instantly. As an alternative, you presumably can merely seize a handful of frozen kale out of a bag after which reseal it and put it once more into the freezer. Nonetheless, the sheet pan kale freezing approach ends in a bigger probability of freezer burn, so plan to utilize your entire frozen kale inside 8 weeks.
One of the simplest ways to freeze kale in freezer baggage
The second approach contains stuffing freezer baggage with blanched kale with out pre-freezing it first. It could freeze proper right into a provided chunk of kale, which is okay for use in larger recipes nonetheless is far much less splendid for single-serving points like smoothies. Be sure to squeeze as so much air out of the bags as attainable sooner than sealing and labeling them. I freeze kale this trend for use in stir fries, soups, and facet dishes.
One of the simplest ways to freeze kale puree for smoothies
The ultimate method to freeze kale is as a puree. After blanching and drying, put the kale proper right into a blender or meals processor to sort a straightforward puree. You could even juice your kale. From there, pour the puree (or juice) into silicone ice cube trays. Put the trays into the freezer in a single day, then pop the frozen kale cubes out of the trays and put them into freezer baggage. Everytime you’re in a position to make a smoothiemerely pull a cube out of the bag, reseal it, and put it once more into the fridge.
Oh, kale yeah!
Using frozen kale is an efficient means in order so as to add protein and dietary nutritional vitamins to your weight-reduction plan. There are so many delicious kale recipes you must put it to use in. Though frozen kale gained’t work in a salad, thawing it and tossing it proper right into a stir fry or lasagna yields delicious outcomes. Now that you just perceive how you can freeze kale, you’ll on a regular basis have so much obtainable.
For further on preserving the harvest, please go to the subsequent articles:
